Florida Education Commissioner John Winn wants to get serious - about tying teacher bonuses to FCAT scores:
In Miami-Dade and Broward counties, teachers could earn bonuses ranging from $1,710 to $4,150 per year on salaries that range from $34,200 to $83,070.The policy would add another set of consequences to Florida's high-stakes accountability system, which already determines school grades, high-school graduation and whether students can progress from third to fourth grade.
Winn said the Effective Compensation plan, which he dubbed E-Comp, would encourage teacher improvement, reward excellence and bolster recruitment and retention.
The critics, they disagree:
E-Comp would replace existing bonus systems in Miami-Dade and Broward, both of which Winn said were unacceptable.In Miami-Dade, a 5 percent bonus is given to all teachers at 28 schools that have the largest gains in FCAT reading and math scores. UTD President Karen Aronowitz said that system is fairest because many teachers contribute to a student's success. ''When we send firefighters to a fire, do we pay them differently based on who handles the hose?'' she asked.
No, but we do tend to get rid of those who don't pick up their end of the hose, especially if the end result is a house burnt down to the ground. If the public were secure in the knowledge that bad teachers would not only not share in school-wide compensation, but would get dismissed to boot, I'm not sure that merit pay for especially-good teachers would even be an issue.